Pac-12 set for football championship at Levis Stadium

By Jon Wilner jwilner@mercurynews.com

Posted:
05/15/2014 12:29:39 PM PDT

Updated:
05/15/2014 01:34:46 PM PDT

SANTA CLARA -- The Pac-12 announced a three-year deal Thursday to stage its football championship game at the new 49ers facility. Levi's Stadium, which will host the 2016 Super Bowl, was simply too good a venue to pass up.

"It's a place you want to experience," commissioner Larry Scott said at a press conference outside the stadium with 49ers CEO Jed York and president Paraag Marathe.

The league was happy with the home-hosting model used for the past three years and wouldn't have veered from that approach if not for lure of the state-of-the-art stadium. There was no bid process; no other cities were considered.

"It's meaningful for our universities to play this game in the heart of Silicon Valley, in the heart of innovation," Scott said.

Marathe expects a sellout for the Dec. 5 matchup between the champions of the North and South divisions. In discussions with fans and ticket holders, the Pac-12 title game was the most-desired, third-party event.

"This is what the community really wanted," Marathe said.

Others believe that once the novelty wears off, the 68,000-seat stadium will be half empty for the Pac-12 title game, especially when Cal and Stanford aren't involved.

With the College Football Playoff beginning this year, fans might want to preserve cash to travel to the semifinals and championship.

The conference plans to re-evaluate the situation after three years. If the neutral site doesn't work, it has the option of returning to the home-hosting model.